the circumstances of adolescence
by alirodina
Summary: lockon and setsuna talk about setsuna's first kiss. happened in season one, after the trinity siblings visit celestial being


Gundam 00: The Circumstances of Adolescence

"That was…" he paused almost dramatically, the lightness of his tone making a joke of it because he'd rather not think about anything seriously until he was safe in his bed. "Interesting."

Setsuna said nothing, which was what Lockon had expected, but it was no crime to be disappointed.

Lockon sighed, stretching his arms out and yawning. It's been a long week, with the Trinity siblings' visit being the crowning glory and he knew Teiria would be hounding everybody onto the tips of their toes for the next few days while he tried to find out if the whole scenario was included in the Veda or not. Lockon smiled to himself. He liked Teiria, who was the easiest of the Meisters to get flustered although Teiria believed himself to be absolutely calm and cool. It was cute. Setsuna, on the other hand…

"Hey."

Setsuna looked up from his palmtop with one eyebrow raised at Lockon. Usually he'd be locked up in his room by this time, but the appearance of the new Meisters had obviously rattled him. Lockon figured Setsuna needed to figure things out and two heads were better than one, especially if the other one's Sumeragi's. But with the way things were, Setsuna would have to do with Lockon, like always.

"That girl, she was your first kiss, huh?" said Lockon. Teasing the boy was like trying to make a rock smile, but Lockon was getting tired of the sadness in Setsuna's face. It was getting a bit monotonous. Boys shouldn't look like that. Hell, Setsuna should've been going to school, making friends his age, worrying about the girl he likes. Not gathering the world's anger and stopping wars. And while Lockon himself had only a brief acquaintance with normal life, the fact that Setsuna was so young and small and trying so hard that made Lockon want to protect him. Made Lockon hope that Setsuna wouldn't turn out like Lockon himself did.

"What?" said the boy, looking almost surprised.

"Aw, come on, don't be shy. You can tell me all about it."

"There's nothing to tell." The blank expression was back again. Probably it had been foolish to think that it had slipped in the first place. It's true that Setsuna spent more time with Lockon than anyone else, and they seemed to understand each other well enough to work well together, but there were just too many deep pockets in the pool that was Setsuna that Lockon had to look out for to keep himself from drowning.

"Hm. You didn't like her? She's cute, if a little pushy. You'd do nicely with a girl like that," Lockon went on. He was bored, and he didn't want to sit around watching people fiddle with their palmtops looking like wax statues of themselves.

"You're the one who's pushy," said Setsuna, training his eyes back to his monitor although his fingers made no move to continue typing. "What do you mean, do nicely?"

"To balance you out. Your calm and deep running waters need a bit of turbulence now and then, if you ask me." That was it. Lockon had officially stepped over the line that was marked 'None of His Business'. Setsuna would probably want to deck him. Not that Lockon was going to let him.

"Calm?" The monosyllabic word dripped with sarcasm.

"Outwardly calm, anyway. It makes no difference here, does it? I mean, people don't exactly pry into other people's affairs here, you know? The past is nothing. All that we are, we're Gundam Meisters. Whatever shit's happened to us beforehand, well, that's not really the issue here."

The expression on Setsuna's face was impassive as ever, but Lockon knew that the boy agreed with what he'd just said. Mostly.

"Or so everyone thinks," Lockon went on. "I know we got the whole psychological package before becoming Meisters, IQ tests and stuff, but does that really mean anything?"

"Do you want everyone else," Setsuna said. "To know who you were?"

"Not everyone else." Lockon stood up, walking across the room to where the boy was sitting down. Setsuna had closed the lid of his palmtop, placing it carefully on the coffee table. "And I'm not asking you to spill your guts to me in exchange for my own. I said I believed that you're here for a reason, the same reason I'm here, and I still think that way. I respect you and your decisions. But Setsuna, no man stands alone."

"I have Gundam. I _am_ Gundam. I'm not alone," the boy muttered.

"Hell yeah. Gundams don't ask anything much from us, unlike human beings. But there's a complexity—an unpredictability if you will, to the human mind that simply can't be offered by a Mobile Suit."

"What are you saying?" Get to the point, the boy's tone suggested. Usually they communicated well with half-finished sentences and going-around-the-bush dialogues, but the topic was just different enough for the boy to need subtext.

"I'm saying that I'm here if you need to talk. Or someone is, if you don't like telling me things. Sometimes you need a different perspective on things, and it's hard getting that without input from other people, yeah?" Lockon reached out, ruffling Setsuna's hair. It felt soft, not so black in closer inspection but like finely ground coffee beans. Setsuna didn't pull away like Lockon expected him to, bearing it silently. "I'm getting something to drink. Do you want tea or coffee?"

Setsuna's lips lifted into a fraction of a smile. It looked as if it pained him, but it made Lockon's heart ridiculously athletic.

"Milk."

"I knew it. You're such a baby. Although you're growing up real fast, aren't you? First kiss and all." Lockon gave the kid a wink before turning towards the doors. Given that he'd be asked under torture and extreme duress, Lockon would admit that he'd much rather have Setsuna stay as he was now. Growing up not being always a good thing, he had no idea what growing up a Meister would actually entail.

"Lockon?"

"Yeah?"

"A kiss is something only two people who like each other share."

"You have a point." That was a surprise. Setsuna wasn't as naïve as he first thought. Lockon wondered if the boy had someone, a person who'd been making Setsuna think about concepts like love and kissing.

"What do you know about kissing, Lockon Stratos?"

That sounded like a challenge. Lockon placed his hands on his hips, looking back down at the boy with a small smile. "More than _you _do, kid."


End file.
